Written Answers Thursday 11 February 2010

Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many emergency ambulance incidents there were in NHS Tayside in the last year for which information is available.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Ambulance Service have advised that in 2008-09 there were 27,825 emergency ambulance incidents in NHS Tayside. This is made up of 10,872 category A calls (life threatening) and 16,953 category B calls (serious but not life threatening).

Ambulance Service

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is of an accident and emergency ambulance incident.

Nicola Sturgeon: The average cost of ambulance activity is published annually in the ISD Scotland Cost Book. This information can be found at:

  http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/costs-overview.jsp?pContentID=3726&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&.

Benefits

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding GPs’ recommendations on the physical and mental wellbeing of patients in relation to the employment and support allowance.

Shona Robison: There are regular discussions with the UK Government on a whole range of issues, including the impact of the Employment and Support allowance for Scottish claimants and the requirements placed on GPs.

  The Department of Work and Pensions determines the nature of the medical reports it requires to support claims for benefits, which is a reserved matter.

Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009

Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated timescale is for consideration of the appeal in relation to the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 through the possible stages of the Inner House of the Court of Session, the Supreme Court, and the European Court of Justice.

Fergus Ewing: May I say first that the Scottish Government welcomed Lord Emslie’s decision in January, which rejected all the petitioners’ substantive arguments. We regret that they are challenging it.

  I understand that the Inner House has recognised the importance of this case and made special effort to expedite it, for which I am grateful. It will hear the appeal during July and issue a decision thereafter. Hopefully that is where it will end. However, the possibility of further appeal cannot be ignored. If an appeal were to reach the European Court of Human Rights, the timescale would be measured in years rather than months.

Energy Efficiency

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes with a band E energy performance rating have been accepted for the Energy Assistance Package since the eligibility criteria were changed in November 2009.

Alex Neil: The change to eligibility criteria for Stage 4, announced in November, came into effect on 21 December 2009, following an amendment to the regulations.

  By the end of January, 549 homes with a Band E energy performance rating had been accepted for measures under Stage 4 of the Energy Assistance Package.

Foster Care

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the number of foster parents.

Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government values the role played by foster carers to improve the life chances for children and young people in the care system. It is for local authorities to consider whether there are sufficient foster carers in their area.

  The Scottish Government is supporting local authorities by working closely with, and funding activities through, The Fostering Network which support the recruitment and retention of foster carers.

  In particular we have, since October 2008, been funding a project which aims to build on the good practice already in place between fostering services. The project’s current phase of work is intended to develop joint working and sharing of resources between authorities, particularly in relation to the recruitment, assessment, training and support for foster carers.

Health

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS Grampian patients have been treated by plastic surgeons following illness or injury in each of the last three years.

Nicola Sturgeon: The information is not held centrally in the form requested. However, figures provided by NHS Grampian from its Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR) data indicate that total inpatient and day case attendances for plastic surgery at all hospital sites in the NHS Grampian area were:

  2006-07 – 1,535

  2007-08 – 1,460

  2008-09 – 1,315.

  Outpatient attendances at all sites, excluding patients who did not attend their appointments, were:

  2006-07 – 11,184

  2007-08 – 11,128

  2008-09 – 11,031.

  Figures for 2009-10 are not yet available.

Health

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28742 by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009, whether it will consider using the £70,000 returned to it by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to fund a healthy living centre that applies prior to 31 March 2010 with the support of local community planning partners and the NHS board.

Shona Robison: Scottish Government transitional funding is available to all eligible Healthy Living Centres for financial year 2009-10 provided that an application is made by the relevant NHS board in accordance with the terms and conditions that apply.

  There are currently no outstanding applications for transitional funding from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for Healthy Living Centres in the area.

  The existing Scottish Government transitional funding for Healthy Living Centres ends at the end of March 2010.

Homecoming Scotland

Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what events are planned for 2010 that will build on the success of Homecoming Scotland 2009.

Jim Mather: Scottish Government is determined to build on the huge success of Homecoming Scotland 2009 and to continue supporting the tourism sector through this period of economic recovery.

  That is why the Minister for Culture and External Affairs and I have brought together a Short Life Ministerial Task Force of key officials from Scotland’s cultural, tourism and enterprise organisations that is looking at co-ordinated approach to promoting Scotland and advise on how best to build on the success of Homecoming Scotland 2009. The group is also considering what can be done now to sustain the momentum built up during 2009.

  In addition to the work being undertaken by the task force, the events calendar for Scotland in 2010 is already packed with inspirational and exciting events and festivals taking place throughout the country and our national events agency, EventScotland, continues to work with the industry to create a world-class portfolio of events.

  Already we have seen the success of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country and Winter Run and indoor athletics with the Aviva International Match in Glasgow. Other events taking place this year include: Glasgow’s International Comedy Festival and its critically acclaimed festival of visual arts; Edinburgh’s festivals which includes the greatest of military tattoos; Ayrshire’s ‘Burns and a’ That’ Festival which will ensure Robert Burns remains a focus of celebration in 2010; The Open Championship, staged at Turnberry last year, will be played at St Andrews this year and will herald in a fantastic summer of golf which includes the return of the Ladies Scottish Open and the Senior Open Championship; five world championships - climbing, archery, duathlon, sailing and trial motor biking – are being staged in Scotland, and the Rally of Scotland returns this year to Perthshire and Stirlingshire.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress there has been in relation to the Home Owners’ Support Fund.

Alex Neil: The Home Owners’ Support Fund has helped 243 households since 1 April 2009. This is an increase on last year when a total of 233 cases were settled. Over £30 million of the £35 million made available for the Fund over two years has been spent so far. The remainder of the budget is on track to be fully utilised by the end of the financial year.

Marine (Scotland) Bill

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those public authorities to which section 72 of the Marine (Scotland) Bill will apply.

Richard Lochhead: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31225 on 10 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Medical Records

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-29930 by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 January 2010, whether the rules regarding legal authority to access medical records without explicit consent apply equally to children and adults.

Nicola Sturgeon: The rules regarding legal authority to access medical records without explicit consent apply equally to children and adults.

Ministerial Correspondence

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its performance was in answering ministerial correspondence in the third quarter of 2009.

Bruce Crawford: In the quarter July to September 2009, 6,659 letters were received by ministers and 95 % received a reply within our target of 20 working days.

Renewable Energy

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made for domestic wind power microgeneration installations since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for domestic wind power microgeneration installations have been (a) approved and (b) rejected, broken down by local authority.

Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what average time is taken from application to decision for domestic wind power microgeneration installations.

Stewart Stevenson: The information requested is not held centrally.

School Transport

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities insist on seatbelts being fitted to all vehicles used for school transport.

Keith Brown: This information is not collected centrally. Local authorities may, through contract specifications, insist on seatbelts being fitted to vehicles used for dedicated school transport. However, there is no requirement in law for all buses to be fitted with seatbelts. Legislation relating to the fitting of seatbelts on buses is reserved to the UK Parliament. When the current UK legislation relating to seatbelts on buses was introduced in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2001, buses specifically designed for urban use with standing passengers were excluded.

Schools

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for implementing the SNP manifesto commitment to "renewable generation in every Scottish school".

Keith Brown: Our ambition is to have renewable generation in every school as we believe that will help contribute towards the challenging emissions reduction targets which are required by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. The joint Scottish Government and COSLA school estate strategy, Building Better Schools: Investing in Scotland’s Future, sets out nine guiding principles for the school estate. The sixth of these is that schools should be "greener", more sustainable and environmentally efficient.

  The Schools Renewables Development Officers, who are funded by the Scottish Government, are continuing to help local authorities secure funding from the extended Low Carbon Buildings Programme and the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, both of which provide funding towards the eligible capital costs of installing renewable energy generations plant in schools and other buildings.

  There are a growing number of world leading examples of sustainable schools which have opened since May 2007, including Acharacle Primary School in Highland, which has very low energy requirements due to its highly innovative design and Inverclyde Academy, which is provided with up to 20% of its electricity from a 50kw wind turbine, one of the largest in any school in the UK.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Futures Trust has established a procurement and contracting strategy for the schools investment programme.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has approved a procurement and contracting strategy for the schools investment programme.

Keith Brown: The Scottish Futures Trust is working with local authorities and the Scottish Government in developing a procurement and contracting strategy for the first 35 schools which have been announced as part of new £1.25 billion school building programme.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when a procurement and contracting strategy for the schools investment programme will be implemented.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Futures Trust has developed a schools investment programme.

Keith Brown: The programme has commenced with the pilot project which is a joint procurement with East Renfrewshire and Midlothian.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has approved a schools investment programme.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when a schools investment programme will be published.

Keith Brown: On 17 June 2009, the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning announced a new £1.25 billion school building programme, which will see investment in around 55 new or refurbished schools. We have asked the Scottish Futures Trust to co-ordinate, facilitate and manage the new programme, working alongside COSLA and local authorities. Details of the first 35 schools to benefit from this new programme were announced in last autumn.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the first school to be completed under the Scottish Futures Trust school investment programme.

Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, we expect the first primary school to be completed in 2011.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the final school to be completed under the Scottish Futures Trust school investment programme.

Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, the funding will start from 2010-11 and continue to 2017-18.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timeframe is for completion of each school under the Scottish Futures Trust schools investment programme.

Keith Brown: That will be a matter for the Scottish Futures Trust and local authorities and will depend on individual circumstances.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding mechanisms will be used to build new schools and whether it will list which schools will be built by the different models.

Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, the first schools will be funded through direct capital investment. Different funding models – including the non-profit distributing model – will be an option for later phases. We have asked the Scottish Futures Trust to provide advice on possible options for the programme.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when funding will come on stream to fund (a) secondary and (b) primary schools through the schools investment programme.

Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, funding will start from 2010-11 and continue to 2017-18. We expect the first schools to be completed will be primary schools in 2011 and the first secondary schools will be completed in 2013.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still the case that local authorities will have to meet a third of the costs of secondary schools and half the cost of primary schools to be built through the schools investment programme.

Keith Brown: We have offered local authorities 67% of the construction cost of replacing secondary schools and 50% of the construction cost of replacing primary or special schools, based on a like-for-like replacement of current facilities.

Schools

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the pilot for the schools investment programme referred to in the Scottish Future’s Trust corporate plan.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the Scottish Future’s Trust plans for a pilot for the schools investment programme and whether they have been approved.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the Scottish Futures Trust schools investment pilot to begin.

Keith Brown: The pilot programme referred to in the Scottish Futures Trust’s corporate plan is underway involving a joint procurement project with Lasswade High School in Midlothian and Eastwood High School in East Renfrewshire. The OJEU notice for the design team appointment was issued in November 2009. The short listed design teams have been advised and procurement is progressing.

Swimming

Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage children to swim.

Shona Robison: This government firmly believes it is important that our young people have the opportunity to take part in swimming. We have increased investment into Scottish Swimming from £818,000 in 2007-08 to £1.3 million in 2010-11. The biggest ever single investment by sportscotland in a Scottish governing body of sport.

  We have also provided Scottish Swimming with additional funding of £100,000 over two years to 2011 to support the appointment of two Healthy Living Managers to implement and deliver a healthy living strategy.

  Since 2007 this government through sportscotland have invested over £8.4 million in swimming facilities. Our recent announcement of £5.5 million for the development of swimming pools and facilities in Fife and Tayside and our £5 million commitment towards a new 50m pool in Aberdeen, demonstrates this government’s commitment to increase participation in this sport.